January 11 – Capiapo – La Serena - Demons be gone!
I used practically every camera I have today, gradually downsizing as batteries ran flat or SD cards filled up. Started with the JVC HM100E and ended up filming Christophe eating dinner using my little pocket FLIP HD camera. I’m now sitting in the media tent at 10.00pm with hours of recharging and data transfer ahead of me.
My day started with a hitch up to the starting line of the special with some guys from a Polish team with a 4x4. The incredible variety of nationalities involved is definitely one of the great pleasures of being part of the Dakar. Whether you’re a motor sports fanatic or not, the great mixture of people that the race brings together is fantastic. We seem to speak an odd patois fusion of French, English and Spanish to communicate with each other – very entertaining.
Today, the bikes started in lines of 20 – motocross style (so I’m told). A spectacular sight to see them roaring up a massive dune side by side with the TV chopper overhead. I’d already run out of batteries on the JVC so was shooting 60FPS hand held on the little Go Pro, hoping to get some nice material for a slo-mo. We’ll see.
Christophe was a little nervous as he lined up. After all, it was on this day that he fell and broke his arm last year. His back is also pretty sore from his fall the other day, and every time the bike goes down on the sand, it takes a lot of effort and pain for him to lift it back up.
I watched him tear off into the distance in the dust and headed back to the bivouac and then back in the car on our way to La Serena.
Most of the journey was unremarkable in the sense that we have been in the desert for so long now that it has become the norm. As we neared La Serena, however, we saw greenery for the first time in what seems an eternity. It wasn’t the sight that struck me so much as the smell. You are only aware of the smell of living plants when you have not experienced it for a time.
Among these plants are innumerable cacti (cactuses) – the kind that you see in westerns and Wiley Coyote comic books. You can apparently tell a male from a female cactus by the number of spines. Probably some botanist geek’s idea of a joke!
Also among the cacti and scrub as we approached La Serena was a young lady, who, much to the delight of two males starved of female company for almost two weeks was kind enough to flash her breasts as we drove past. Not wishing to let such a kind gesture go unrewarded, Jacob promptly pulled a U-turn and returned to present her with one of the small Australian flags we’ve been carrying for such occasions. No, unfortunately there was no repeat performance.
Our arrival in La Serena was spectacular. Everywhere we have been, we’ve been greeted my swarms of people, but here, the streets were chock a block with flag waving, smiling, happy people all wanting to be part of the Dakar. Amazing! We had people tapping the roof and rocking the car – and we’re not even racing. It must be an incredible sight for a rider or driver after a hard day in the desert. Once we’d parked the car in the bivouac, I went back out on foot with a camera to try and catch some of the atmosphere. The vibe was so warm and up-beat that I even forgot to worry about how Christophe was going. So much so that I almost missed a great shot of him, arms raised as he rolled through the ebullient crowd at the end of another successful stage. Day 8 broken arm demons – GONE! Onwards to Santiago…
